Netbook Review UK

Nvidia Ion chipset is USD $30-35 without Atom Processor

We’ve had confirmation that the Nvidia Ion chipset alone costs between $30-35 US dollars here at $30 – $35.  We also know that Intel was charges more to manufacturers who don’t buy Intel’s own Atom processor + chipset bundle.  It’s $25 for the bundle, or $45 for the Atom processor alone.

So adding together $45 for the Atom processor and $30-35 for Ion, it comes to a total of $75 – $80, which is 3x more expensive than the Intel bundle.

So, it’s quite likely that this is the reason why we haven’t seen as many Ion/Atom combos as we would have liked.  There are some nettops out now with ION combined with an Atom processor, like the Acer Aspire Revo. There is only one netbook / mini-notebook that I’m aware of right now that will come with an Atom processor / ION combo, and that is the 11.6” Samsung N510.

Intel’s not the only option for the processor now and VIA’s processors are making a comeback as seen with the Lenovo S12 and Samsung NC20 mini-notebooks.